Not enough skilled people!

Fireflyaway

Has he served in the forces? I watched an interesting segment on TV documenting how ex forces people face discrimination due to being stereotyped.
Maybe he is skilled but its not specific enough? What was the feedback from the interviews? Has a professional scrutinised his CV?
I do think its harder to find work than 10 years back. I started applying back in Feb and only got an offer 2 weeks back.
We have to face facts that if your relative was such a catch he probably wouldn't even have to apply, he would be headhunted. I'm sure he does have lots of good skills but so do hundreds of other people. No offence meant here, I'd apply the same to myself. It just takes time.

Silvertabby

250 applications was one job for 16-18k, got to pity the person who had to whittle it down to 4 or so! Though they said they deliberately didn't run the ad in the summer time!

Bro-in-law used to whittle down job applications before selecting those suitable for interview. Many (sometimes most) of the applicants didn't even have the minimum qualifications specified, and so didn't make the first cut. He thought that many applied for any job they saw advertised just so they could add it to their 'job search' list for the benefits office.

[Deleted User]

PasturesNew wrote: »

The shout of "not enough skilled people" never actually identifies what there is a shortage of - and where that is.

It might be that the skills are for "robot engineers with 5 years post-graduate experience who live near London", or "microsurgeons for eye surgery with 10 years' post-PhD experience, who live near a major eye hospital".

Until "they" tell us what there's a shortage of and in which locations .... we'll all have to sit on our skills/experience thinking there are no jobs to use them.

Who is 'they'? There is no central job agency...

You need to look to the media -

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3592534/Britain-s-demand-jobs-revealed-pay.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11602670/Here-are-the-workers-most-in-demand-in-the-UK.html

or

http://www.visabureau.com/uk/shortage-occupations-list.aspx

So basically:

Engineers
Nurses
Software Developers
Consultants
Recruitment Consultants
Teachers
Administrators
Chefs
Designers (digital)
Sales Executives

We're sorted in our house with my missus being a nurse and I'm a Software developing Consultant.

But where are the jobs? Probably in the major cities I would guess. Probably not in Stoke-on-Trent

Gavin83

bugslet wrote: »

There goes the contradiction. If you price an item high and pay staff highly, then it doesn't sell. Price it low to get the sales, then you can't afford to pay staff.

On big contracts it's the customer that sets the price and then you have to make your business costs fit and unfortunately it's often the employee pay that a business has the most control over. Take my business - I have two main costs, fuel and driver pay. I can't control the price of diesel, I can control the driver's pay. (As it happens I'm in a niche market and pay above average).

I agree Gavin with the principle behind what you say, but it does depend on the profit margin of the company a lot, how much flexibility they have.

You make very good points. It's a balancing act for a business with staff who want more money and customers who want to pay less while still making a profit. However the only thing I'm sure of is that's it never the fault of the potential employee who refuses the job because the salary isn't high enough.

As for the OP's post we can't really give any meaningful information until they return and answer some of the questions. At the moment it's a little light on details. For all we know he's applying for jobs as a brain surgeon.

ReadingTim

Gavin83 wrote: »

However the only thing I'm sure of is that's it never the fault of the potential employee who refuses the job because the salary isn't high enough.

You can't always even go that far - whilst you can't blame someone for not taking a job because they don't think it pays enough, you do have to test whether their salary expectations are realistic enough regarding the pay of the sorts of jobs they're looking at, and the sort of lifestyle the potential employee thinks should be supported by that sort of job. This becomes more relevant the less skilled the role is, and the ease with which it can be performed elsewhere in the world.

As you say, not everyone's going to be a brain surgeon. Not everyone's going to be paid like one either.